Black In Black

True Love At Last

It was around an hour later when I realised Eva fell asleep. She had camped out next to me, in the second shair, when she dozed off. I watched her for a moment, softly breath in and out as she slept. She really was innocent. Filled with hate she didn't know how to control, but innocent. After a moment, I noticed a golden sparkle over her eyes.
"Sandy?" I glanced at the door as the small man floated in eye sight. He silent giggled, before holding his hand out to have me follow.
I sighed, with a soft smile. 'Sorry, I cant. I wanna be here when--" Before I could retaliate further, he can floated closer and grabbed my hand, pulling me with a stronger vorce than I expected. My other hand, which was under the blanket tangled with Jacks, was pulled from his chilly fingers as Sandy led me out of the room. As we made it to the hallway, symbols appeared above his head. Fire, airplane.
"No, I can't, my side is still bothering me. I rather not anyways," I replied. "Where are you taking me?"
He turned to give me a mischievous smile. I raised an eyebrow at him as he led me to the globe room, where no was to be found. Then, he created a pillowy cloud of sand and nudged me onto it. I curiously clamored on, looking back at the little man.
Suddenly, the cloud itself engulfed my legs in a tight grip that made me fall down to my butt, making my side ache in retaliation to my sudden movements.
"Ah, Sandy what--" I realised he had made himself an airplane of sand, then tethered my cloud to him. He took off effortlessly, which made me instantly regret climbing on. He flew us out the observatory door, and into the night sky.
"Sandy," I called shakily. "I'm not sure if you noticed, but I have an insy problem with heights, especially with recent events."
Acknowledging my comment, the cloud started to form barriers between me and sudden death. The chunks of cloud holding my legs turned into straps, as one came over my torso to tether me to a chunk of cloud supporting my back. I reached out and gripped the little walls holding me in. I felt a little safer, but still didn't like the height we were at and the speed we were going.
Soon we found ourselves at a small town laden with snow. Sandy's airplane shifted to a cloud of his own, where he started to send out streams of sand to the houses below.
"You're taking me with you to deliver Dreamsand?" I comment curiously. "Why?"
He shrugged at me as we both watched his streams travel down to find anyone sleeping in their beds. Then, he let out a number of symbols above his head, none of which I followed.
"Okay, I can't always understand you, Sandy. How about, writing it out with your sand?" He huffed at me before drawing letters into the air. COOPED UP.
"Cooped up?" I looked at him.
NOT HEALTHY.
"Ah. It's not healthy to wait beside Jack? But when he wakes up, he'll probably feel better having me and everyone else right there with him."
RELAX.
I sighed at the little man, as the words floated into nothing. "I can't just relax."
THAT'S WHY YOU'RE HERE.
He held out his arms to the town, the streams barely disappearing into all the houses.
Before I replied he zoomed off again, to another town. We stopped briefly in each one, traveling to places I've never been before. Soon, we made it to a particular town I was all too familiar with.
I asked him if I could stay for a while, to come get when he's done. He unsurely agreed, dropping me off on the edge of the forest before he went to finish sending sand out to the houses.
It was still slightly snowy, but the snow was melting. It was cold, but bearable. Walking down one of the plowed streets I found a familiar house, Jamie's.
I walked into the back yard and looked at the half melted snow forts the boys hid behind the other day, when Jack first introduced me to them all.
I suddenly remembered the confusing event with his Mother, who somehow saw me. It made sense though, now that I knew my center. She must believe in true love. And, I'm guessing, the way their neighbor was suddenly eager to ask her on a date was because of me, too. What was my radius of effect, was it really that big?
With difficulty and a little firepower, I climbed up to sit on one of the flat posts of Jamie's fence. I didn't bother seeing if he was awake, I knew he was asleep, now with Sandy's streams in effect.
I heaved a sigh. Flipping my legs over the fence, I jumped down. My side whined in pain at my actions, but I ignored it as always. Walking into the forest area behind his fence, I went in search of what I really stayed for.
Soon, I found it. The dark, snowless hole down to my old home. I slipped underground, to the empty staircases and walls. I walked into the main area and looked up to Dad's globe. Gold lights flickered on and off, some staying bright, some disappearing, some coming to life.
Home. I noticed that Dad was nowhere to be seen, which suited me just fine. I walked up a particular hall to a stairway that led up to the area where Dads globe was. Down from that, was a door. My door.
I opened the quiet door and saw my familiar room. My purple bedspread, metal bed frame, my desk, everything was the same as I left it a few short days ago.
I suddenly realised that I didn't want things to change. Just because I was a guardian, doesn't mean I can't be here, with my dad. Given, I cant all the time, but that doesn't mean at all.
The calendar above my desk caught my eye. The month was covered in X's, drawn in pen marked the days that passed. I walked over, pulling the same black ink pen and crossed the last two days, to catch it up. On todays date, words were written in a rough, curvy hand. I could barely make them out, the ink was smudged almost beyond recognition.
Hearing footsteps outside, I quickly forgot about the words and peeked out my door. Dad had came back, and was talking to himself as he walked to him room far down the hall.
He might be happy to see me in my own room, but the moment he does he'll put me on bedrest because of my side. Just as he disappeared, I left and darted down the stairway and out the the hole to the outside world.
Like a few days ago, there was snow on the ground and in the trees, icicles hanging from the branches. The only difference was that it was all beginning to melt, like dirt and grass poking through the snow and the icicles dripped as they melted. I stood and walked through the trees, more to think than anything else. I dont know when Sandy would be back to take be to the Pole, but I planned to make the best of this freedom alone.
I came across a frozen lake, one that wasn't overly large but big enough to ice skate on if you wished to. Now though, it was probably thinner and the ice would probably break if someone tried.
I found a soft slope to the ice and sat, the already melting snow around me turning in to water as it soaked into the hard dirt. I liked it out here, the air was fresh, the scenery was nice. It was quiet, secluded. I was almost tempted to lay back, but I know my side wouldn't immediately agree with that movement. It was aching dully, the medication already wearing off with my actions forcing the stitches to move.
"I didn't think I'd find you here."
My head snapped back at the rough, broken voice. It was Jack, who was leaning on his staff for support as he smiled at me. I darted up with a squeak as he wavered, my hands snapping out to steady him.
"Oh, what the hell, Jack? What are you doing out here, you should be at the Pole, resting--"
My teetering voice was cut off by cool, dry lips. Ironically, I melted into the feeling but kept my hands sturdy to keep him upwards. After a moment he pulled away, to speak. His voice was rough with all the blood that had leaked into his lungs earlier, his speech broken by him putting more focus on staying upright before continuing.
"I'm okay, I flew all they way here and I'm fine. What are you doing out here?"
I gulped wetly as he spoke. He didn't look fine, and he didn't sound fine.
"I'm relaxing before Sandy was supposed to find me and take me back to you. How did you get out of the Pole without someone dragging you back into bed, where you belong?" I gave him a look with my last statement, which he softly chuckled at.
"I can be sneaky, at the worst of times."
I just sighed at him. "What am I going to do with you?"
A teasingly playful smile played on his lips. "You could kiss me, make the pain go away."
I rolled my eyes lightly and let myself pecks his lips. "We should get back to the pole, I'm serious Jack you need rest.."
"Ellie, I'm fine." He said in a reassuring tone. "I swear. I just wanted to see you, and I didn't want to wait for you to get back."
"I sighed again, as he loosely motioned for us to sit down. I helped him down, before I sat beside him. Shakily, he wrapped an arm around me.
"How do you feel?"
He hesitated, making me look up at him. "I could be better."
"How's your.. chest?" I bit my lip.
"my chest? what about it?"
"Your heart stopped, Jack. Her electric blast stopped your heart and I had to give you mouth to mouth to.. to bring you back."
His eyes softened. "I died?" I nodded softly at him. "Oh, no wonder you're so worried. Ellie I feel fine, my heart is fine."
"I just frowned at him. "I still will worry. For a second -a split second- I lost you."
I felt his arm tighten around me. "But I'm here. I'm here right here now, alive. I wont leave again, I promise."
"You better.." I grumbled in fake annoyance, leaning into his embrace. His chest moved as I did so, as he chuckled into my hair.
We fell into a silence as I watched the moon come and peek through the opening to the trees.it looked so unnaturally large, though I didn't mother mentioning it. Now, the moon was more than just a moon, it was home to someone who knew all of our secrets, even the ones we havent kept yet. The man in the moon, whether he was figurative for as real as any of the Guardians, gave me this life that I'm living. Now seeing the moon shine bright on us, it was like the man in the moon telling me that he's proud to what I grew up to be, proud of my decisions, proud of surviving.
"Ellie?"
I was pulled from my thoughts on the moon as Jack spoke into my ear. I hummed in response, waiting for him.
"I love you."
My breath caught and I turned in his arms to look at him. he smiled with his eyes at my face, my response.
"I dont think I said it the other night, when we came back after the storm. I meant to say it but.. actions seemed to speak louder than words."
I smiled at his words and looked up at him with controlled glee. His eyes had reflected it, which only aided me in my words.
"Jack, I love you too."
My lips found his and we kissed, now soft and slow but passionate and exciting. His lips were dry but oddly warm against mine, his nose pressed against the side of mine as I reminder that he was the icy boy I grew to love. Our lips locked together so sweetly, so perfectly at even though I felt breathless at his touch I could stay here, locked forever.

Alas soon we parted, my forehead found his cheek as I leaned into his shoulder. We were both smiling to ourselves, as the trees glistened with ice, as we both breathed a loving sigh into each other, and as the moon radiated happy light down on the frozen lake and us.✿

___________________________

Holy crap guys! We're done, believe it or not. I thought you'd like this, the story left on a happy note. I feel like I got all poetic at the end, about The Man In The Moon.

It's been a great journey with you guys, I just love all the votes and comments you all leave! The photo with this chapter shows how long this journey was. Hopefully there won't be very many tears flying around by the end of this, we're supposed to be happy!

Why happy? Well the end of this book births the start of much more. I had stories brewing for a while now and I can't wait to kickstart. A big one, TiMER, should be up by Monday, I want to type up a few chapters first before I publish.

I hope you enjoyed, I'll see you in the next author note. Happy endings! ✿